AGL Live Session: Grace Vonderkuhn

Posted: 13th June, 2018 by The Editor

“It’s getting a little slick in here, I like it,” muttered Grace Vonderkuhn with a smile in the middle of drenching the Sounds from the House crowd with the kind of punchy garage-rock that gets its distinct life force from a steamy basement. It was hot and the volume was loud, but certainly not enough to keep eager listeners from happily sweating it out with the band.

Grace Vonderkuhn released the album Reveries, a collection of bangers, back in February with Richmond label, EggHunt Records. Soon after, she recruited Brian Bartling of the band Troubled Hips to play bass, and drummer Dave Mcgrory to fill out a stacked project for their first 9 date tour. “I wanted to build a band with the best musicians I could find,” Vonderkuhn mentioned, “The rest is history. We’re like family now.”

In German, “Von der kühn” loosely translates to “of the bold,” or if you look it up Dictionary.com you’ll get the response, “did you mean ‘wonderkid’?” In either respect, the name matches the group’s sound.

Opening with “Candy Buttons,” a deeper cut from Reveries, Grace Vonderkuhn eased the crowd into their fiery, yet slightly melancholic, grit; the kind that fueled 90s rock bands like the Melvins and The Breeders. The song shows off an array of infectious, sprawling guitar tones that pulse and bend underneath lyrics that encapsulate the notion that, when all is said and done, she hopes to be content with the life she has lived. “I really feel like this is only the beginning,” Vonderkuhn said when asked about her feelings towards playing the record for people and, by looking around a room of sweat-soaked punks, freely head banging to her music, it’s safe to say she’s right.

You can download all of this live session along with all our previous sessions for Pay What You Want HERE!

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